Britain’s fourth largest internet service provider Breathe – dragged earlier this year from the clutches of bankruptcy by Great Universal Stores [WAMN: 09-Jan-01] – has been sold to Affinity Internet Holdings.
Retail and mail order giant GUS – whose reasons for selling have not yet been disclosed – will clear £1.75 million on the all-stock deal, a relatively modest profit on the £1.4 m it paid in January. Its interest in Breathe was initially focused on the ISP’s technology and management, using these to boost its expansion into e-commerce, although the web access service was subsequently retained for Breathe’s 300,000 customers.
Affinity Internet Holdings is an e-business firm providing branded online services. Headquartered in the UK, it is expanding into the rest of Europe, Africa and Australia.
News source: BBC Online Business News (UK)
